One thing is the price. You used to get a fast food meal for 2 bucks. That's burger, fries, and a drink. At that price, if it's anything more than sawdust and dishwater, it tastes pretty damn good. Now a combo at McD's or Wendy's goes 8 or 9 bucks. I'm expecting more quality at that price!

But there's a difference in the way it's made now, too. I worked at a McDonald's in high school. We used to cook the fries in animal fat, now that's "unhealthy" so it's all vegetable oil. We also used to toast the buns and fry the burgers at the same time. I remember, they used to look pretty damn tasty as I was cooking them. Granted, they would then go sit under those hot lamps for a while, I think that certainly degraded the quality. But now, they take the burgers out of those heated trays. Sure, the idea there is it's "made to order", but who knows how long ago those burgers were cooked??

In-N-Out Burger is still top notch though. That stuff is all made fresh, and a Double-Double, fries and a drink is $6 something, pretty good by today's standards.

Oh yeah, nice movie posters and whatever.

Now that I'm close to hitting forty, I tend to avoid fast food and chain restaurants too in favor of locally owned, but must admit Five Guys and Fries make a pretty good burger. I always go for the small though, one patty is good enough for me.